Toilets in Japan

We are missing our Japanese toilet.  It was a beautiful, happy thing.  Japanese toilets are amazing.  The seats are heated, they squirt water, some even sing and dance- just kidding on the dancing. 

In the olden days, Japanese had the worst toilets.  They were just like urinals placed in the ground- requiring squatting.  It seems they went from one extreme to the other- from the worst possible to the best possible.

These kind of toilets are still everywhere in Japan- in public restrooms and, I'm assuming, in many older private homes as well.  Japanese people are used to squatting, so think nothing of using this kind of toilet.  Luckily, most public places also had at least one stall with a "western-style" toilet as well.  I only had to use one of these once on our whole mission- when there was no other choice.  It wasn't pretty.

Because Japanese people are used to squatting and probably had no idea how to even use a western-style toilet when they were first introduced, instructions were more often than not mounted on the walls of public restrooms- complete with illustrations.  I thought it was funny that the instructions were also written in English.  Believe me, English-speaking people do NOT need these instructions! At least not Americans!

This is a close-up of the buttons displaying the many functions of the toilet. 

So there you have it!  I know you wanted to know about toilets in Japan.  If I've sold you, you can buy the seats here:  https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-Washlet-Elongated-Toilet-PreMist/dp/B00UCIOWRM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500760150&sr=8-1&keywords=japanese+toilet+seat